Adding-machine.



l. L. LANIER.

ADDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED one. 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- J/ LZ J witnesses j, |nventor,

' by WIPW- I r I,

Attorneys;

L. LANIER.

ADDING MACHINE. APPLICATIQN FILED DEC. 6, I916- 1,252,704. Patented Jan,8, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Witnesses Exam/1M Inventor,

Attorneys var LEE Lama's, or'nrc zonr, nonrn cmomna annme-macn'nm. I

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J an. 8, 1918.

Application filed December a, leis. semi No. 135,501.

'To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVEY LEE LANIER, a citizen of .the United States,residing at Hickory, in the county, of Catawba and State of NorthCarolina, have invented a new and useful Adding-Machine, of which thefollowing is a specification. I

The present invention appertains to adding machines, and aims to providea novel and improved machine of thischaracter.

It is the object of the invention to provide an adding machine embodyinga set of indicating or registering wheels each having nu-. meralsrunning from 0 to 9, a single set of keys running from 0 to 9, and meanswhereby said wheels are operated in succession by the same set of keys,each wheel being advanced the required number of steps by the respectivekeys of the set. With the use of a single set of keys, the machine isrendered more compact, and the liability of confusion or mistakesoccurring is reduced to a minimum.

Another object of the invention is the provision in an adding machine ofnovel means for quickly setting the master wheel at various positionsafter a number has been completed.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and'in the details of construction, hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed, can be made within thescope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is aplan view of the machine with the casing shown in section, and portionsbroken away. I

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken on the lines 3-3 and 4-4,respectively, of

.housing 1 which has journaled within its sides adjacent its back, ahorizontal transverse shaft 2 upon which the indicatmg or re isterinside by si e, each wheel being provided upon wheels 3 are mounted snuglyits periphery with the numerals 0 to 9, in-

elusive. cleared, dogs or pawls 4 are carried by the casm and engage andstop the tappets 5 of the w eels 3 when said wheels are returned tostarting or zero position. The pawls 4 are so arranged that the wheels 3can be advanced freely, but the shaft is normally held statlonary by itscrank 6 which is engaged, as at 6", to the casing. By releasing thecrank, it can be rotated to return all of the wheels 3 to zero position,where they are stopped by the tappets5 striking the pawls 4. The shaft 2can move after the wheels are stopped so that all the wheels can bereturned. The wheels in frictionally engagm the shaft tend to turntherewith. Any 0t er' means can be used to clear the ma-- chine.

,The casing 1 has'apertures 7 exposing the wheels 3 to exhibit thenumerals thereof. The wheels 3 have gear teeth 8..' V

Means are provided whereby the wheels at the left can be operated bythose at the right. Each wheel 3 has one of the tappets 5 coiiperablewith a star wheel 9. The star whe els 9 are mounted on tubular shafts 10havlng gears 11 meshing with car teeth 12 of the wheels 3 to the left.he shaft 10 1s journaled on a shaft 10. Every time In order that themachine can be one of the wheels 3 makes a complete revoludiately infront of the wheels 3, and has feathered or 'slidable thereon a mastergear wheel 15 adapted to he slid longitudinally and to mesh insuccession with the teeth 8. Fined upon the shaft 14 is a gear wheel 16meshing with a larger gear wheel 17 mounted loosely upon anothertransverse shaft 18 mounted for rotation within the casin in front ofthe shaft 14. This gear wheel 17 is rotated in one direction with theshaft 18,

but not in the other due to the factthat a ratchet wheel 19 is mountedupon the shaft 18 and coiiperates with a dog or pawl 20 carried by thegear wheel 17 The shaft 18 is rotateddiiferent amounts whereby toadvance the respective wheels 3 the proper number of steps and for thispurpose a set ofplungers 21 are 'slidable ver- 18 will be rotated one ofsteps.

tically in guides 22 mounted within the casing, and said plungers havekeys 23 at their upper ends designated 0 to 9, inclusive. Alternateplungers 21 have their keys 23 offset, as at 24, to provide a compactarrangement of the keys, they being sta gered, as seen in Fig. 1. Thelower en s of the plungers 21 are provided with forwardly projectingtoes 25 connected by retraetile springs 26 with the top of the easing,to raise the plungers, and the different plungers 21 have variousnumbers of teeth corresponding with the numerals upon the keys of therespective plun ers, whereby g "teeth 43 with which a pawl 44 of thegear when the zero key is depresse the shaft 18 will not be rotated, thezero plunger not having any teeth,but when any one of the plungers 21are depressed, the teeth thereof engage one of the pmions 28 securedupon the shaft 18, there being one of sa d p1n1ons for each plunger withthe exception of the zero or blank plunger. Thus, if the plunger or keydesignated 1 is depressed, the shaft step if the plunger of the keydesignated 2 is depressed, the shaft 18 will be rotated two steps, andso on. The pawl 20 and ratchet wheel 19 are so arranged that when theshaft 18 is rotated due to the depression of a key, the gear wheel 17will be rotated With the shaft 18, but when the shaft 18 is rotatedduring the return movement of the plunger, the gear Wheel 17 remainsstationary. Consequently, the gear Wheel 15 is rotated only when aplunger is depressed, whereby-to advance the respective wheel 3 thedesired number As a means for automatically moving the gear wheel 15from one indicating wheel 3 to the other. u on the-upward stroke of eachkey, a rack ar 29 is slidable through the sides of the casingbelow shaft15, and has an upstanding fork or finger 30 engaged with the hub of thewheel 15, whereby said wheel 15 willbe moved lon 'tudinally with therack bar 29. The rac bar 29 slides through an aperture 31 in one side ofthe casing, and moves through an opening 32 in the op osite side of thecasing. One end of the 'ar 29 has a knob or finger piece 33 Whereb therack bar can be readily slid, and said rack bar yieldably raised by aspring pressed member 34, which is preferably provided with a roundedlug 35 engageable in notches 36 with which the bar 29 is provided in itslower surface. The notches 36 in engaging the lug 35 will hold the gearwheel 14 in mesh with the teeth 8 of any wheel 3. By depressing the knob33, the rack bar 29 can be slid longitudinally of itself to set the gearwheel 15 as desired.

The teeth of the rack bar 29 ordinarily mesh with a pinion 37 securedupon a shaft 38 journaled in suitable bearings 39 pro-.

' ratchet device.

vided within the casin adjacent one side thereof, the rack bar 2 beingheld against the bottom of said pinion 37 by the 5 ring pressed member34. A bevel gear 40 is eyed upon the shaft 38 and meshes with the bevelgear 41 rotatable loosely upon the shaft 18 adjacent the gear wheel 17,and a gear wheel 42 is mounte loosely upon the shaft 18 between thebevel gear 41 and gear wheel 17. The bevel gear 41 is rotated in onedirection with the gear wheel 42 but not in the other direction, throughthe medium of a Thus, the hub of the bevel ear wheel 41 can be providedwith ratchet wheel 42 is coiiperable. Meshing with the gear wheel 42 isa rack attached to one limb of a U-shaped lever 46 having its terminalsfulcrumed, as at 47 to the back of the casing. The intermediate portionof the lever. 46 is normally raised against the toes 25 of the plungersby a spring'48. When the lever 46 is depressed, the gear wheel 42rotates vided at their upper ends with buttons or keys-51. Said buttonsor keys are preferably located immediately in front of the respectivewheels 3, andthe lower ends of the plungers 50 are slidable in a guide52 within the casing, said plungers being slidable through the top ofthe casingalso. The fork or finger 30 has a forwardly projecting stop 53movable freely below the lower ends of the plungers 50 when they are innormal raised position. The plungers 50 are raised by means of coiledwire expansion springs 60 surrounding the plungers and confined Ibetween the top of the casing and the buttons 51. Spring means isconnected to the rack bar 29 tending to return the same to startingposition, said means including a spiral or other suitable spring 54having a pinion 55 connected thereto and meshing with the rack bar 29,whereby when said rack bar is advanced (to the right'as seen in Figs. 1and 2), the spring. 54 will be wound up, thereby having a tendency toreturn the rack bar to starting position. The tension of the spring54-is lighter than the tension of the spring 48, in order not to impairthe advance movement of the rack bar by the spring 48. A lever 56 hasone end fulcrumed, as at 57, to one side of the casing and extendsacross the plungers 50 immediately in rear thereof, and is provided atits free end with a shoe 58 bearing downwardly upon the rack bar haverearwardly' projecting lugs 59 overhanging the lever 56, whereby whenany one of the plungers 50 is depressed, the lug 59 will swing the lever56 downwardly, so

.that its shoe 58 depresses the rack bar 29 away from the pinion 37 thusbringing the spring 54 into play for returning. the rack bar backwardlyas far as it will go until the add the numerals 1,256 and 22,233, therack bar 29 is first depressed and moved to bring the master gear wheel15 into mesh with the teeth 8 of the fourth wheel 3 from the right.Then, after the rack bar 29 is released, so' that its teeth engage thepinion 37 the keys designated 1, 2, 5 and 6 are. depressed in.succession. When the key designated 1 is depressed, the shaft 18 isrotated a step, thus advancing the gear wheels 16 and 17 a correspondingamount, so that the gear wheel 15 rotates the'respective wheel 3 onestep to move the numeral 1 of said wheel behind the respective aperture7, supposing that all of the wheels were previously set at zero. Whenthe key designated l'is released, the lever 46 which was depressedduring the downward movement of said key, will by its upward movement,rotate the gear wheel 42, whereby to rotate the bevel gears 41 and 40,so that the shaft 38 and its pinion 37 are r0- tated to move the rackbar 29 one step to the right, whereby to bringthe gear wheel into meshwith the teeth 8 of the third wheel 3 from the right. The key designated2 is now depressed to advance the respective wheel 3 two steps and aftersaid key is released, the gear wheel 15 will be moved into mesh with thesecond wheel 3 from the right. After the keys designated 5 and 6 aredepressed, the last four wheels 3 will show the number 1,256 in theapertures 7. The operation is now repeated for the next number, the rackbar29 being depressed and moved back to bring the gear wheel 15 intomesh with the proper wheel 3, which with the second number aboveindicated, is the fifth wheel from the right. The first three numerals222 are added by simply depressing the key designated 2 three times, andwhen the key designated 3 is then depressed two times, the second numberis completed. The total will then appear in the aperture 7, and it willbe noted that the machine can be used for adding up columns of variouslengths, etc.

Instead of manipulating the rack bar 29 by hand for setting the masterwheel 15, it is preferable to use the plungers 50, although eithermethod can be employed. Thus, as the rack bar 29 is advanced, the spring54 is brought under tension, and after the number is completed, themasterwheel can be returned to the desired wheel 3 to start the nextnumber. This is accomplished by depressing the respective plunger 50,which in being depressed will depress the lever 56 so as to remove therack bar 29 from the pinion 37, thus bringing the spring 54 into playfor returnin the rack bartoward starting posi- 7 tion, but when the stop53 strikes the lower end of the depressed plunger 50, the rack barwillbe arrested with the master wheel 15meshing with the teeth 8 of thecorresponding wheel 3. When the plunger 50 is released, it will beraised by its spring 60,

thus releasing the rack bar 29 which will immediately engage the pinion37 for a newv operation. By this arrangement, the master wheel can bereturned to any desired, wheel 3 by depressing the/properplunger 50,although the rack bar can be manipulated independent of the plungers 50if so desired.

To clear the machine, the shaft 2 is rotated in a direction reverse tothe direction in which the wheels 3 are advanced, whichwill return 'saidwheels to starting position, and when the tappets 5 strike the pawls 4,the'movement of the wheels 3 are stopped at zero position, and when allof the wheels are in this position, the machine is again ready for use.It will be noted that the parts can slip if some of the wheels 3 arestopped before the others.

A Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is: I

1. An adding machine comprising a set of registering wheels, a slidablemember, a master wheel movable with said member to engage saidregistering wheels in succession, means for rotating the master wheel,means for advancing said member, means brought under tension when saidmember is ad-' vanced and tendlng to return said member,-

and a plurality of means, one for each registering wheel, for releasingsaid member and stopping it at difl'erent positions when returned towardstarting position.

2. An adding machine comprising a set of registering wheels, a slidablymounted rack, a master wheel movable with said rack to engage saidregistering wheels in succession, means for rotating the master wheel,meansfor advancing said rack including a pinion meshing therewith,'means brought under tension when the rack is advanced tending to returnthe rack to starting position, a plurality of plungers one for eachregistering wheel, a stop movable with said rack past saidplungers, saidplungers being movable to a position to'be engaged by said stop, and

pinion. I, t

3. An adding machine comprising a set of registering wheels, a masterwheel mounted for advance movement to engage the registering wheels insuccession, means for rotating the master wheel, means for admeansoperated whenany-of said plungers are moved fordisconnecting the rackand the registering wheels to starting position,

5 means for stopping the master Wheel in engagement with the variousregistering wheels when returned by said spring means,

and means operated by the fourth mentioned means for disconnecting thesecond mentioned means from the master wheel to 10 bring the springmeans into operation. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own,I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

- IVEY LEE LAN IER. Witnesses:

C. E. BUSH, W. M. LONG.

